Brian Walton

Over 3+ years is a pretty long mission, and backup drives are not that expensive. If this is actually "mission critical" then that implies money is made with such machines and services, thus you are in a better position than most to afford to upgrade over that time. As was pointed out by others, not doing anything also carries a risk. I was scared about the update as well a long time ago, (would my far more expensive I/O hardware stop working with the lack of drivers)? So I waited until others took the plunge, I was not an early adopter in the update. Plenty of risk staying where I was though.

JST do allow ilok host machine authentication but not all ilok products do from other manufactures. and the dongle itself isn't the only issue with ilok.

You missed the months and months of advertisements noting that upgrading to Win10 for Win7 uers was free for an extended period of time? It has been known for a long time Win7 would no longer get support and they offered Free updates for a very long time.

Nope

I read the "article" on the JST site about ilok misconceptions, disagree on many levels. No thanks, won't buy it even if the price drops to $30.

Generally agree with this other than one of the recent releases that had significant problems with some audio drivers, with show stopping noise. Outside of that, I don't recall major issues, but honestly not sure how that one got to actual release without catches.

Out of all the updates I've done for the actual releases I don't think more than 2 of them have actually worked without having to reinstall the app manually. It is a problem they really should work on to get a better user experience. It happens across the 4 machines that I use, so I don't think it is a personal problem.

It is a little unclear what the DAM application will actually be, if they do come out with it, or if it will just be an extension of the trio of apps. I'll buy it even if it doesn't really meet the need. I can't imagine they will release something on capture one level, and therefore it might just be something useful for seeing affinity project thumbnails which other dams don't read properly. My fear is they will look to match Lightroom instead of aiming higher ala Capture One. Will be good for the average user to have another choice and perhaps get C1 to re-evaluate the pricing model. Both On1 and Luminar are ok, but neither feel really mature yet.

Yes, they recently ran one and it also was extended due to them winning Mac App of the year for Publisher. With the upcoming 1.8 release (likely 1st of the year) I'd be surprised if they don't at least do a 20% off sale then as well. That being said this is software that is actually worth the full retail price and then some. It really is the best value on the market even at the normal price.

Premire Pro was my primary NLE, I've done hundreds of hours of projects on it. I own Vegas, oddly I found the "other way of doing things" to be the mode of operation for Vegas DaVinci is the I use it as long as I'm using a PC that is capable of running it software. I found it is more in line with the way Premere Pro operates than Vegas, though all of these programs you have to look up "how to" on a number of things. Haven't tried Hit Film recently but I was suprised at the operating requirements of their Photo RAW processor software, wouldn't even run on one of my machines that I have ALL of the other market leaders on (Capture One, Lightroom, Luminar, On1 RAW, Darktable, Rawtherapee) This alone gives me some reservation for anyone that isn't using the latest machine.

Amazing list, but clearly missing a few well known top tier free options Fxpansion DCAM Free Comp Jamstix - free version come to mind as examples, but way more stuff on that list that I didn't know about.

If you need to add special effects to your projections this is a pretty good deal. Outside of that, I personally don't see the value if you are happy with Vegas 14. And if you are not happy with Vegas 14, Davinci Resolve for Free is where I'd be looking first.

Interesting workaround. Agree that we need an integrated solution, seems like such an obvious and "easy" update to make.

One of only a few boz plugs I don't actually have.

Many people (including myself) would say they use it basically as a multi-track tape recorder.....but then use something that utilizes virtual instruments on the occasional project....but they play a MIDI keyboard as though it was producing audio. That is, they don't go back in and do a bunch of midi-editing on the piano roll. The idea you would have access to ADII as a platinum owner and then only use an Alesis SR makes me cringe a little on the inside. ☹️ I also didn't mention anything related to distorted guitars. Every tool I mentioned could be used on a traditional country track, though "Strum" I wouldn't think to use as I guitar player I don't find it sounds that authentic.

Agree on all fronts. Sounds like some magic sauce pretty easily, though CUP intensive. Regretting not getting the CEIL last year, I remember seeing the offer and thinking I probably don't need that. Not realizing the quality of work they are doing.

Complete pain to get it authorized....but 100% worth it. 5 activation limit is also appreciated.

Good deal on the packs. The usefulness/re-usablity will depend on your approach and the packs. If you just use them "as is" without tweaks and using them in the pre-defined intro, verse, chorus, bridge then it becomes quite obvious when some of the packs are used. That being said, I've made some tracks I'm happy with after putting my own parts on top of them.

The main things in my mind are the LP-EQ, Comp, Adaptive Limiter but if you have full Ozone you might not miss them. Others might use the BlueTubes "suite" that comes with Plat, but I found that I basically never used them, outside of messsing round with the De-Esser until I found other plugs that worked better for me. Then there are the instruments, AAS LIzard, Analog, Strum and True Pianos or the other Synth type of things that come in the box. These might not be used by you. The fact that you didn't need to install SPlat speaks pretty highly of the Bandlab version. I could likely get away with the same, but only becuase I have the AAS and True Pianos, along with the LP-EQ and Comp that work outside of Sonar. Adaptive LImiter I would miss even though I do have alternatives from Izotope, Boz, Limiter-6 as well as others. It is a "go to" many times for me, even with such formatible alternatives.

I haven't found a single reverb plugin that really does it all, so it sounds like you are not a reverb junkie. That being said, hard to know as you haven't listed what you have. If you need to add something that is more on the creative end, this might be a good one to add. The marketing material suggests it can also do more subtle more normal style reverbs as well. I do agree with your notion that the best tool we have is to really learn how to use a particular reverb, it isn't an easy effect to really master, IMO.

Haven't used it but at an almost 14gig size I'd hope it is in a different class!

For the sounds, I like AAS a lot better. I use EZ for the brain and output the sound to AAS.

The actual title is aptly named. But hat doesn't prove your point at all. Over saturated tone is being EQ'd by the speakers/cabinet. Any competent guitarist knows this. The amp and settings itself is fundamental in getting good tone out of either speaker. Did he massively alter the amp settings to compensate for the EQ curve differences in the amp? He didn't, and I'd argue the tone itself was fairly equal between the two examples, just different. Tone can be judged on quality of the sound, and honestly the tone in the video is not very good in any of the examples. Try the same test with amps setup properly to produce good dynamic tone with a solid fundamental through the same speaker and you can start to hear which amp is more dynamic and rich in tonal complexity. No argument that the speaker matters in the EQuing of the tone shape and the overall quality of the tone, but it isn't the #1 driver for quality. If you are dealing with horrible metal tone, then yeah, I'd put more emphasis on the final EQ and qualities a speaker gives, just like the video demonstrates.

It is a bit of a joke. (though the speaker isn't the #1 contributor to tone either, and I have access to the holy grails of all guitar speakers. Pre Rolla 30 green back Celestions picked out by Ken Fischer himself) However, I stand by the statement that the gear itself is basically irrelevant in what Joe is bringing to the table.

If you think Marshall made better amps than Trainwreck, I think it is fair to assume you have never actually played one. (and I agree that rare and expensive doesn't equal better, i.e the overrated Dumbles I've played, though some were very good),